The word church and churches appears in the Bible 114 times. There is a word of similar meaning in the Old Testament as well. The meaning of Greek word ecclesia and the Hebrew word Qahal from the Old Testament is essentially the same meaning - an assembly. The word ecclesia in the New Testament was translated as ‘church’ or ‘churches’ all but 3 times when it was translated as ‘assembly’.

There was no reference in the Old or New Testament to these words meaning a building or a structure - simply a body or group of believers.

If you like to study the Bible in depth you will find that the word ecclesia for church in the New Testament is word number Greek 1577. The Old Testament word Qahal is Hebrew 6950. The Old Testament also has 10 or more other words and word numbers for an assembly.

One of my favorite ...

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The Bible has become the modern day foundation of teaching for most Christian religions today. Just about all religions have a book that is said to be the 'word of God' that they teach from. So for this article let's take something from the Book of James in the New Testament. This is what James had to say about religion.

James 1:27

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Now here is a great topic for a church sermon. What is James referring to? Doing good and helping the less fortunate? What does James mean by being unspotted from the world? Do you know?

The Churches Need for Revelation

Most every religion teaches from books written by people. Each one believing that they have some monopoly on ...

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